The Genius And The Idiot
by fLuTe-chan
Summary: [AU]Sasuke and Neji were best of friends since kids. But one day, Neji died, leaving his fiancee, Tenten totally devastated. But that's when a boy named Naruto came into the picture. Also, how can we forget about the pinkhaired lass? [SasuSakuNaruTen]
1. The Death of Uzumaki Neji

Chapter 1: The Death of Uzumaki Neji

**Chiba, Japan – Mid Afternoon **

His mother was finally laid to rest.

As Naruto stands in front of the simple craved stone in the middle of the cemetery, his mother's last words played across his mind…

**-Flashback-**

Naruto kneeled beside the hospital bed of his dying mother, clasping her frail hands as tears brimmed at the corners of his sapphire eyes. His mother smiled weakly at him through her own tears. "You look just like him."

Naruto smiled back, though he has no idea who his mother was talking about. All that mattered to him then, was his mother.

She reached up to fondle him across the cheek. "Promise me you'll find him."

Naruto hastily wiped off the tears with the back of his hands as he perked up at what seemed to be his mother's death wish. "Find who?"

Her chest heaved as she breathed deeply. "Your father."

Naruto widened his eyes. "Fa.. father? You never mentioned him before. Even if I asked-"

His mother cut him off by placing her hand on his mouth, implying he should let her finish what she wanted to say. "You'll find what you need to know in the red box under my quilt. Uzumaki Hatori was his name."

Right after, her hands fell from Naruto's grasp…

"Motherrrrrr!"

**-End of Flashback-**

Naruto turned his attention to the clouds.

As much curiosity he has about the man whose blood flows within him, Naruto couldn't help but harbor doubts towards the man.

It's been twenty four years.

For twenty four years, Naruto had hoped to meet _the_ father, yet for twenty four years, there was no news from him. Naruto twisted his lips in bitterness when he averted his attention back to his 'mother'.

_(Do you seriously think he would want me when he didn't even bother to come after you?)_

…

…

Naruto sighed, his eyes downcast. Then the red box in his hands piqued him. For as long as his mother lived, she had never allowed him to go near the box, much less opened it. And along with some of his clothes, the red box was one of the few things he managed to grab before he was thrown out of his quarters for failing to pay the rent for months. He flipped it open and the first thing that caught his eye was a rather old picture.

A picture of him when he was just a baby and his mother carrying him in a tender loving way. Beside her, holding her by the shoulders and smiling charmingly at the camera was… his father?

"_You look just like him."_

It has to be!

They have the same blue eyes, same spiky blonde hair that stood at the back of their heads and the same face! It was like he was a replica of him!

Naruto scrambled through the box for more, but found nothing more than a number of dried flower petals, a couple of poetic post cards and letters, a crumpled A4 hand-drawn portrait of his mother when she was younger, a couple of old movie tickets, a straw ring and… a address.

_(The place where my father lives?)_

He read through the address carefully, for it seemed foreign to him. Then with a set of determined eyes, he looked at the picture, particularly focusing on the man with the handsome smile.

"Uzumaki Hatori huh…?"

With that, he popped the things back into the box, secured it, straightened his bag over his shoulders and gave a bow to his mother. When he straightened his shoulders, he grinned, mimicking _the man_ perfectly before he took off to take the earliest train available to Tokyo.

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**Tokyo, Japan – Mid Afternoon**

"_We're sorry to inform you that your grandson, Uzumaki Neji, was involved in a car accident a few hours ago. And… he died instantly."_

It's been three months since the accident, yet the words of the police officer at their doorstep late one night played over and over again in the mind of Uzumaki Tsunade, the matriarch of the great Uzumaki family. She squeezed her eyes shut and fall back on her wing chair, rubbing her temple in an attempt to soothe the throbbing of her head.

As much as Neji looking annoyingly favorable to his mother's side of family, the prominent Hyuugas, Neji was nevertheless an outstanding child and the perfect successor to the huge Uzumaki conglomerate. Not to mention he is, or rather was, her one and only grandchild… or grandson so to speak.

She worried her lower lip and turned her attention to the morning papers stacked neatly at the side of her tinted glassy desk, her eyes narrowing at the headline – 'Lineage of the Uzumaki Family in crisis'

Screw them.

The Family has been hitting news headlines ever since Neji's accident. For the first two months, the vultures (The term Tsunade called the media) have reported every single detail of Uzumaki Neji. From the 5Ws 1Hs of the tragic accident to his personal life, they have never failed to overlook any part of him. The major news stations have even set up special time slots to discuss him much to the extent Tsunade thought they knew Neji more than she does.

And now, they have moved on from Uzumaki Neji as a person to his family as a whole.

Prior this, the vultures have been ceaselessly hot on her tails, trying every means in their best polite efforts to fish out information on her plans for the Corporation as well as the Family.

But so far, none has been successful.

Tsunade stood up and crossed the room to the window. She shoved the drapes aside and found the leeches still lurking near Uzumaki grounds. The cameras began their flashing the moment they caught her staring at them in her study room.

Disgruntled, Tsunade shoved the drapes back.

"I don't think they'll be satisfied until they know what you'll do next. The whole world is looking at you now, Tsunade-sama. May I step in?"

Tsunade snorted and turned to face her secretary cum confidant, Uchiha Kenshiro. The man of fifty-three has been with the Uzumakis for as long as she could remember and now, even his younger son of twenty-four, Uchiha Sasuke, has been recruited in the company as the Marketing Sales Manager in their headquarter of hotels that stretches all the way from Tokyo to the United States of America.

Indeed. The Uzumakis are one of the riches families in Japan, or perhaps in the whole wide world. The fact that they always hit the 'Top Ten List of the Richest Families in the World' in Chimes Magazines, New York every year tells just as much.

BUT

Their male descendants were ALWAYS plagued with mishap.

The patriarch, Uzumaki Gennosuke, Neji's great grandfather, died in a yacht explosion when he was out fishing in the sea with a few of his closed business acquaintances. Oddly enough, the others survived with minor injuries.

Her own husband, Uzumaki Jiraya, died in his sleep at the mere age of sixty-seven eight years ago. The doctors could not diagnose the cause. The heart simply stopped beating. Tsunade could still feel the shock coursing through her old body when she awoke the next morning to find his cold quiescent body beside her. She nearly went down with grief, but her newly founded responsibility managed to pull her up – The head of the family, the matriarch of the Uzumakis.

Five years down the road since Jiraya died, Tsunade have strictly nurtured their only son, Uzumaki Hatori, to be the successor to their great business. She gave him the best education, engaged the best tutors to edify him from art to the financial world, making him a proud graduate in the roll of honors list in Universities all over the world. At the mere age of twenty-three, Hatori was already a regular in the 'Top Ten List of the promising youths in Japan' in Money Magazine, Japan's top magazine of the financial world. She has even arranged the perfect marriage for him – wedding Hyuuga Shizuka, the elegant daughter of the prominent Hyuuga Hisashi, who owned estate businesses all over the world. In short, she has given him everything a mother should have. But alas, tragedy struck. Hatori's health deteriorated around one year after his marriage. The doctors blamed it on his unreasonably long hours of work. They advised him to play hard as well. The psychiatrists' diagnosis was that he held a lot of things on his mind. They advised him to unleash the knots in his heart and poured out his woes to his family.

But Hatori did none of that.

Instead, he retreated deeper and deeper into his own world, burying himself in the endless work as the MD of the huge conglomerate. Everything she, or Shizuka, his wife said fall on deaf ears.

Until one day, he coughed blood. Neji, who was three then and the only one in the family who managed to hold his attention, burst into the room to embrace his father, when he found him sprawled on the ground grasping helplessly for breaths. Even after the grand funeral for his father ended, the servants would often found the young master in a daze.

And now, Neji himself…

"A penny for your thoughts?"

A deep voice interrupted her thoughts, and Tsunade lifted her gaze to meet Kenshiro's. Realizing she has been spacing out, Tsunade quickly motioned him in with a wave of her hand. "Did you find him?"

Kenshiro advanced into the room and closed the door behind him. "Not at the moment."

Tsunade crossed the study room and resumed her seat behind the desk, hands entwined. "How come?"

"He already left by the time my men arrived at his place. Apparently, he was thrown out."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow over that, but she remained silent, guessing just as much.

"He didn't pay for his rent for over eight months." Kenshiro explained. "And it seems that he owes a lot of debts. Almost everyone in his neighborhood is tracking him down for the money he owed."

Tsunade heaved a sigh. "See to that."

Kenshiro nodded. "Hai."

"What about the mother?"

"She died two weeks ago. Lung cancer is the killer."

For a moment, Tsunade just stared at Kenshiro. Then she said, "Keep me updated."

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Sasuke leaned by the wall at a corner, hands shoved in his pockets, watching his father as he retreated out of the study room. His father caught him and came by his side.

"What are you doing here?"

"Not that it was important to you." Sasuke retorted coldly, turning his black orbs away.

Kenshiro frowned, displeased with the attitude that his son has been giving him. "Sasuke."

Sasuke responded by walking away.

* * *

Here is a longer summary this fic:-

Naruto is an illegitimate child in hopes of meeting his father one day. On his quest, he met Sakura, a guiltless but feisty girl who believes in finding true love. Day by day, bit by bit, Naruto finds himself falling for Sakura. When Sasuke, the rich snob, came into the picture, Naruto finds Sakura drifting further away from him and nearer to Sasuke. He hated Sasuke for it and the feeling was mutual, for Sasuke hated Naruto for fitting into the same rank as him and snatching the place of his best friend, Neji. In their spirited clash of wills, Sakura's world was torn apart… and so was Tenten's.

A/N: My apologies to Neji fans out there. I had to kill him because I'm just not good with the Hyuuga. Had tried to fit him into the fic but it just didn't work out. I guess my limits are only Team 7 –gave it a thought–

And to my readers of my other fanfic, 'Forgotten Ties', I have to inform you that I'm calling a timeout for it, because this fic has been on my mind for some time and I just have to write this out to see how it goes. There are also other ideas coming up but I think I should put them on hold. I will try to continue the chapters (under way) of 'Forgotten Ties' along with 'The Genius and The Idiot'. This fic won't be long… hehe… at least not as long as 'Forgotten Ties'.

So now, click the review button to tell me what you think of this fic!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Crossroads Part I

**TO:**

**kouzumi 4eva - You're my first reviewer! I'm glad you like this story! I'm working on it (the next chapter of 'Forgotten Ties'), will probably post it up together with Chapter 3 of 'The Genius and The Idiot', so keep your fingers crossed!**

**Kiyoko - Thanks for reviewing! Well, here is chapter 2! **

**Laurice - Guilty:p I got my start off inspiration from the soap when my idea of wanting to write a Naruto-pauper-turned-rich-man-Sasuke-a-rich-snob-Sakura-the-girl-in-between fic keeps spinning in my head for the longest time. I don't know, I just thought the three are destined to be entwined forever haha.. And I love the soap too! I caught it when I was bored and switched on the TV one night. It caught my interest immediately but I misssed a couple of eps recently...It should be nearing climax already right? How many eps are there anyway?**

**

* * *

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Chapter 2: Crossroads Part I

Naruto shaded his narrowed eyes against the strong sun beating down his neck. He surveyed the surroundings and discovered nothing but huge houses surrounding him. By huge, he meant real HUGE. He has never seen such big houses before. At first, he thought it was some first class hotels but a confirmation from an ojisan from one of the houses proved that he was on the right track – That his father is living here, in one of them.

Naruto snorted. So, father has been living here comfortably while mother and son was left rotted in the streets. He began to have second thoughts in meeting this father of his. But the injustice he felt for his mother sent him stomping his feet ahead, determined to find out what the hell was going on between the generation before him.

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Sasuke twisted his lips in annoyance as he tried to drive his convertible Mercedes out of the gates of the Uzumakis'. The paparazzi waylaid his car as if bees swimming towards their pots of honey. Some of them flashed their cameras; some of them muffled their questions; some of them knocked on the window to get his attention.

Frustrated with the overwhelming attention, Sasuke pressed the car honk long enough to get them out of the way. Then he sped away, leaving the reporters to eat the dust of the road.

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Naruto spotted a car coming towards him in a distance. And he wasn't about to let it go. He dropped his bag on the ground and stationed himself in the middle of the side road, hands outstretched.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the idiot intercepting him in white T-shirt and ragged denim jeans. He braked his car to a slow stop right at his feet, his black orbs staring at him suspiciously.

The idiot grinned, hurried over to him, and gestured him to roll down his window. Sasuke simply rolled his eyes at him and was about to step up on his accelerator when the fool scurried right back to block his car upfront.

Sasuke frowned. _(What an idiot…)_

Naruto frowned back. _(What a bastard…)_

Finally, Sasuke gave in. he rolled down his window. Naruto smiled over the win as he bended down to look on the inside. It is a posh car alright. Everything about it is just so classy and the air-con… it feels just oh-so-cool against his s-

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked gruffly.

In an equally gruff manner, Naruto handed him the paper that has the address on it.

"May I know where…" Naruto trailed off when his senses instinctively perked up at the two cars coming on fast towards his way. The way the people in the cars popped their heads out of their cars seemingly trying to snap something out of their cameras caught his attention.

Then he heard the car beside him roared. Before he could stop it, the Mercedes beside him sped away…

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, remembering his address is still with the driver. "Give me back my address!"

The Mercedes just swerved itself away in the corner…

Naruto swore and was forced off the road when the two cars zoomed past him, sending him toppling his foot one against another. He landed the ground with a thud. He groaned with a grimace to match the throbbing pain in his ass. "That bastard…"

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Holding up the small paper scribbled with words, Sasuke smirked wryly. _(Another damned paparazzi trying to whip money out of Neji…)_

Without a second thought, Sasuke crushed and tossed the paper out of his window. "Son of a bitch..."

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Naruto trudged his feet, dragging his bag along instead of carrying it. He was hungry and he felt sticky. And the incident just now didn't help matters. It made his blood boil instead.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Naruto ranted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Young man!" Naruto turned at his voice. It was another ojisan. The ojisan glared at him behind the towering gates. "We're going to call the police if you keep up with your crazy ranting!"

Feeling sorry, Naruto quickly apologized. When the ojisan turned to leave, Naruto called out for him.

So he lost the address.

But the memory was there, at least for the door number.

"What?" The ojisan replied gruffly.

"Ano sa, ojisan! You know where number 50 is?"

The ojisan's brows immediately knitted together. Then he gave Naruto an once-over. In his opinion, Naruto fitted the description of a reporter from a run-down news station with his big bag and all. "Are you one of them?"

Naruto misunderstood the question. He thought the ojisan was asking him whether he is one of the Uzumakis.

He nodded.

And was rather taken aback when he was shooed away. And he found it weird that the ojisan ended their meeting by calling him a bastard. But before he disappeared behind the garden, he called out loud enough for Naruto to hear. "Turn to your left corner ahead. The one standing alone."

Naruto scratched his head in puzzlement. "Huh?"

Then realization hit. "Thank you, ojisan!"

…  
…

Turn at the left corner ahead indeed.

Sounded so near yet so far.

It seemed to Naruto that the corner just drifted further with every step he advanced. Finally, he gave up and slumped at the sidewalk, wiping his perspiration with the back of his hands. "When will I ever reach there…?"

A van scooting in a distance caught his eyes. And to Naruto's surprise, it stopped right beside him. When the side door was pushed aside, a funny looking man with fuzzy eyebrows called out to him. "Are you going there as well?"

"Huh?"

"The heat must be getting you! Hop right in!"

Naruto was dragged into the van instead.

The moment he was in the van, three pairs of intense eyes focused on him, making him rather uneasy within the small space they shared.

Naruto gulped. "Nice to meet you guys."

"I'm Rock Lee form Konoha newspapers!" The fuzzy eyebrows stretched his hand out. Naruto took it and shook it halfheartedly.

"And this is Chouji, our cameraman!" Lee pointed to the round-looking guy munching his potato chips away. Chouji smiled and Naruto smiled back.

"And the one driving the van, Shino is his name." The cool-looking guy pushed the rim of his glasses up after he was introduced. And Naruto could feel he is staring at him through those dark sunglasses of his.

Naruto nodded politely though awkwardly towards Shino. _(What a funny group of three…)_

"What about you?" Lee asked.

"I'm Naruto from Chiba."

"…"

"…"

"…"

The silence became so awkward that Naruto thought a black bird might be flying above them. He was relived when Lee broke the silence. His round eyes sparkled excitedly at him. "So Naruto-kun, what do you know about the Uzumakis?"

"Huh? Oh… I'm one of them."

Again, the group fell silent. And that smacked the grin off Naruto immediately.

Luckily, the van came to a screech halt and saved the moment. Naruto got down after Chouji and was dumbstruck at the scene in front of him.

"Are they shooting movies here?" Naruto asked faintly when he managed to find his voice.

"You've got a weird sense of humor, Naruto-kun. This is the Uzumaki Mansion." Lee was securing the microphone on his collar, so he missed the astonished look etched on Naruto. He scurried away with Chouji and Shino after that, leaving Naruto alone to remain dumbstruck.

_(This… this house.. is the… my father…THIS IS THE UZUMAKI MANSION?)_

Naruto whirled around excitedly to survey the surroundings.

"_Turn to your left corner ahead. The one standing alone."_

The Mansion is indeed standing alone. The neighbors are all far away from this one. From the angle he was looking at, he thought he was staring down at the top of a hill.

_(The ojisan is right!)_

He turned his attention back to the Mansion. It was majestic-looking with all the tall elaborate windows, nicely mowed gardens and ornate fountains. Why, Naruto thought it was possible to house thousands of him!

But why are there so many reporters swarming around?

He straightened his bag on his shoulders and strode towards them. But he was shoved aside when the front gates creaked open. The reporters began shoving and hammering each other, trying to get to the front. Naruto heard the honking of a car, and surmised there must be a car trying to get its way through.

_(Could it be my father?) _

At this thought, Naruto elbowed his way though the crowd of reporters and even tried to tiptoe to get a better glimpse. But the more he tried, the more he was yanked away from the centre of attention.

Then, amidst the shoving and pushing, Naruto caught a glimpse of the figure in the car, supposing a polished silver Jaguar. It was a stern-looking elderly woman. She remained impassive despite the repeated flashing of lens directed at her.

The tidy blonde tresses with some highlights of gray…

The pair of authoritative brown eyes…

No doubt about it.

It was THE grandmother!

Naruto froze as his mind instinctively brought him back to _that day_…

**-Flashback-**

"Mother, I beg you! Please let me see Hatori! Just once, please!" His mother was on her knees at the door of Naruto-couldn't remember. But he did remember he was very young then, perhaps not older than two or three.

"Naruto!" His mother tugged on him, intending to make him kneel with her when the stern-looking obachan remained indifferent. Tears flowed uncontrollably down her flushed cheeks. "Plead wit-"

"ENOUGH!" The booming voice startled Naruto then, and he faltered, almost hitting the ground if not for his mother's firm grasp on him.

"This is Naruto. Hatori's son. Your grandchild." His mother said, not giving up as she pushed him forward but he cowered instead, running to the back of his mother for the towering look on the old lady's face looked scary enough for him to pee his pants.

The grandmother didn't even spare him a glance. "Go before I call for the guards!"

"Mother! Please!"

"I have only one my daughter-in-law! And that is Shizuka. You can stop hurling relations with me. Take this money and go before I'll make decisions you regret."

A thick envelope was tossed to the ground. When the grandmother disappeared behind the doorway, Naruto went to pick it up and earned a whack on his hands.

He cried out loud, matching his mother's anguish sobs.

"We will not take it." His mother muffled out firmly in between her sobs as she embraced him.

**-End of Flashback-**

No wonder they say first impression last…

Even catching bits and pieces of _her_ through hordes of reporters made him shuddered inexplicably. Disheartened, Naruto turned to walk away.

As the Jaguar maneuvered its way out of the gates, Tsunade gave a perfunctory glance out of her side window and caught the back of a retreating figure in white T-shirt looking quite like his late son, Hatori…

But within a split of a second, the figure was blocked by a detestable face belonging to a reporter, who got his face whammed on the window.

Tsunade winced at the sight. "A bunch of infidels!"

Kenshiro beside her quickly seek to appease the foul mood. "Step it up, Akira."

The Jaguar slowly but steadily maneuvered out of the vultures' clutches. The moment the chance of freedom came, it sped itself high and away from them, leaving them to eat the dust of the road.

Naruto sighed as he watched the Jaguar passed him and turned at the corner. _(Uzumaki Family…-snorts- I must be crazy to want to come to them…)_

Brushing it off, Naruto swung his bag over his shoulders. _(Now… -looks around- Where do I go from here?)

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**See you in Chapter 3!**


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